Generally, the protective silk cases the caddisfly larvae build are decorated with gravel, sand, snail shells, twigs or other common debris but French artist Hubert Duprat gave them shinier materials. He introduced beads, pearls, turquoise, and 18-karat gold pieces into their environment and let them construct tiny gilded sculptures. Duprat has been collaborating with the larvae since the 1980s.

One link is here, via the excellent Mark Thorson, with further images and video, another link is here, more pictures and an interview with the artist.

It’s fascinating that they seem to have some aesthetic sense. Or is it that they are shepherded, somehow, into making their banded cases? I don’t think wild caddisflies add banding or anything in particular to their cases.

“Because I keep each type of material in a separate tank, it is possible, by monitoring the time a larva stays in a given tank, to get it to make a ring of a specific material. Also, by damaging the insect’s case (including the lining) in a specific area, it is possible to prompt the creature to repair its case by placing a specific material precisely where the damage was inflicted.”

Well, we know spiders build webs with stripes and architectural elements, even if it’s not indicative of an artistic desire. I thought perhaps something similar might be going on here, where the caddisflies feel compelled to include some sort of marking in their gilded environment. But I guess not.

There seems to be a certain irony that it’s a Frenchman that collecting on the labor of the larva which the French are, or so it seems, so socialist in temperament. Perhaps I’m looking at the picture wrong though and it’s really the bug that is the capitalist so only fair that the human artist collect the rewards and recognition. 😉

The artist owns the means of production and the insect does the labor. Labor is “capitalist” in the sense that you own your own labor services – unless you are enslaved like this insect. The insect gets a protective home, but so did slaves. Is it only slavery if the insect is bothered by the involuntary servitude?
Or are the resources collectively owned if the insect gets to use them? No. Ultimately the human gets to decide, so however content the insect is at any point in time, the human controls the means of production and can withhold them on a whim or employ a different insect.